1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed towards an improved award medal formed of a relatively soft, resilient, rubberized material and including a weight element so as to offer an award medal which feels fairly heavy or at least substantial when worn by a recipient about his or her neck. The award medal of the present invention can be constructed to include attractive, brightly colored elements and ornamental designs and is particularly suitable for use by children. In addition, the present invention is directed towards a method of making the improved award medal described herein.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has become customary to distribute various types of certificates, awards, ribbons, and the like to commemorate achievement in particular fields such as sports, academics, business, charities, and community service, for example. A common type of achievement award medal is modeled after the well known Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals which are awarded at the Olympics and like prestigious sporting events. While some of these medals may indeed be formed out of a precious material, most of such conventional types of award medals generally consist of a disc-shaped plate, formed by either being casted or struck from a less expensive, heavy metallic material such as zinc, copper or brass, that is then plated in gold, silver, bronze or a variety of other metallic finishes so as to reduce the expense associated therewith. With many such conventional medals, the disc-shaped plate may be engraved with markings such as "first place", "second place", "runner up", and the like, and may include a ribbon necklace designed to fit around a user's neck. Such conventional metallic material medals have the advantage of being of sufficiently heavy weight to give the recipients a feeling of value, worth and prestige. Also, the relatively heavy weight of such conventional medals serves to facilitate a desired positioning and feel when worn by the recipient.
One drawback associated with conventional metallic award medals is that they often lack sufficiently decorative details or ornamental features, most likely due to the costs associated with casting or otherwise forming the medal to include such decorative features. This includes an inability to provide metallic medals with more than a uni-colored appearance, such as a colorful display that might otherwise be appealing to a wide variety of people including both adults and children. In short, conventional award medals are frequently only available in metallic colors such as silver, gold, and bronze and with such types of single color award medals, any decorative indicia which is displayed on the medal is simply not likely to stand out so as to create a memorable impression of achievement.
There is another drawback associated with conventional metallic award medals which relates to their unexpected use by children. In particular, although award medals are usually given to adults, it is becoming more and more common for award medals to be given to children at junior sporting events, science fairs, field days, scouting competitions, and the like. Unfortunately, however, given the playful nature of children, they may swing the award medal by the ribbon necklace portion and accidentally or even intentionally throw the entire award medal at another person or an object. This raises concern about the possibility of a resulting bodily injury from the heavy metallic, disc-shaped plate of the award medal. Even if no one is injured, however, it is seen that conventional award medals can easily do damage to objects such as surrounding furniture, windows, vehicles or like structures. As such, sponsors and organizers of children's events are often reluctant to provide such conventional award medals to children due to the potential for injury or damage. In order to avoid potential injuries and property damage, many people planning competitive events for children have turned to distributing certificates and ribbons in place of award medals. Unfortunately, however, such paper and ribbon awards are often not brought home in a condition suitable for framing or display. Additionally, of course, it is seen that a ribbon or a paper certificate is often not considered to commemorate a particularly noble achievement or to be as prestigious as a medal award.
In an effort to produce award medals having structural features which differ from conventional or metallic medals, others in the art have experimented with a variety of different types of construction. For example, an award medal has been produced which utilizes a metallic disc-shaped plate of zinc, copper, brass, or aluminum, made by being either cast or struck, and to which is added a hard or soft enamel coating afterwards so as give the award medal color. However, the limitations of applying enamel to metal are stringent. For instance, if more than one enamel color is to be used on such medals, each color must generally be separated from any other enamel color used on the award medal, typically by way of a metal divider, which can be tedious and somewhat expensive to achieve. Another limitation associated with such medals is that enamel color applied is essentially a paint that is baked on the surface of the medal, and thus, the resulting award medal has a flat and untextured appearance, unless the medal was formed during casting to have raised indicia thereon or three-dimensional appearance, which as has been described, adds to the expense of making the medal. Still, others in the art turned to utilizing a colored mylar paper or label that can be inserted within a holder or border formed of a hard acrylic or metal material, in an effort to add color highlights to award medals. Once again, this alternative has the disadvantage that the award medal is limited to the flat one-dimensional design which can be produced on the mylar paper, and importantly, is a substantially light weight and hence, less desirable type of an award. Yet others have attempted to provide award medals which are constructed of a plastic or hard acrylic material, yet such awards have limited color applications and little or no texture so that they do not offer a three dimensional appearance. Such plastic award medals are also typically very light in weight and have a cheap and inexpensive appearance. As such, these award medals are not able to provide the prestigious and substantially expensive look and feel of metallic award medals. Additionally, although plastic award medals are lighter then metallic medals, they may crack or otherwise be susceptible to breakage and thus, may not reduce the possibility of serious injury to children. These existing plastic award medals also fail to provide the structural combination of being soft, resilient, and flexible, while still having sufficient weight and structural integrity found in more conventional metallic award medals.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved award medal which may be formed of a relatively soft and resilient rubberized material so as to provide a safer and more appealing alternative to conventional award medals. Such an improved award medal should also be of sufficient weight and structural integrity to instill the perception of value and worth as well as facilitate the proper and desired positioning and feel when worn about the neck of a recipient. Any such improved award medal should be capable of demonstrating a number of distinct and highly desirable characteristics in a single medal structure which were not previously obtainable using known available structure and methods of manufacturing. Such characteristics include, but are not limited to: a multitude of colors a variety of textures, high relief dimension, fine detailing and a heavy weight, as set forth above.